The concern of problem.

  For most people, the Envoronment is an important issue, many of them talk about climate change, species extinction, polution and so on...is that it's a concern for the vast majority see how it degrades the planet. However, and from my point of view, is difficult to act and make significant changes when trying to tackle the problem on a scale of work that's beyond our capacity for action. In one of the few motivators that one really works can be found in life, I found one that changed my way of seeing the problem. It dosen't mean that major problems are no longer interesting to me, but I understand that beyond my ability to fix it. To get to the point, I'll try a problem for me is vital and for that I put in a context. I live in a city linked to rural, where the economy is based mainly on natural resources, specially mining, agriculture and tourism. So, I've always had that love naturally developed into the environment. Clarified this, the problem is as follows: the city where I live, for their economic activities, its territory is exposed to constant pressures that lead to a sustained loss of quality of natural ecosystems. But what can we understand that this is a problem, whether exercised by man changes seem to be always associated with an ever greater benefit?...There arises the problem (according to my perception), because of course, we are used to update the look and perceived benefits...which makes sense economically...but if we open a bit the range of vision probably find ourselves with something a little less enjoyable. Here, let me carry on my more rational environmental and flirt with the job that made me change the way you see the problem.

The deterioration of the ecosystem we can range from many perspectives, of which I chose, desertification and the capacity of ecosystems to recover from human pressures, I should clarify that work was superficial and that I should delve into it,but hard data are conclusive.

Desertification we will understand in practical terms as a loss of vegetation and the relationship that allows the generation, such as faunación (and trophic relationships) and biogeochemical cycles (water, carbon, nitrogen, etc.), but it must also be understood as a process of soil loss, the surface layer of the earth's crust that allows the possibility differentially support life, allows agriculture, human settlements and thus enable many other activities.

Then, and preliminary data, I sat down at my laptop to make calculations of bioclimatic indices (then I'll explain what they are useful), to characterize the vegetation and wildlife, always thinking of the relationship may be greater than the problems of desertification, which are assumed increasing and moving towards the area where I live.

If you ask me, never been easy for me to describe my area from a ecological point of view, although aware of the climate and it's characteristics (here's a big problem), I can now define a level of certainty the climate, vegetation and faunación (Here is a breakthrough), and I have had clear global problems and their causes, but I have no capacity to perform at that level, then the only way out was to work at the local level the problem of desertification. For this I took the climatic data of Los Andes city (whose source I have little confidence), and then I set out to make bioclimatic diagrams. 
These famous diagrams are used to relate the climate of a place and its capacity to produce plant biomass, in the proposed hypothesis for this analysis we will consider its use and analysis for the zone under conditions such that the vegetation has been lost. (not to mention various causes that can be fires, abandonment after extraction or agricultural activities, pollution, etc). This assumption of total or partial loss is adjusted to the problem of desertification mentioned before, and also to problems of erosion, the latter mainly because the area dominated by soils with a sloping, devoid of vegetation would also be exposed to water erosion effects mainly the effect of rainfall concentrated in the winter months. 

Having made this assumption had to relate it to the diagram, which to my surprise was not very encouraging as the values ​​generated were low.

To do it more graphic, put an image and it will base the discussion.

Los Andes's Bioclimatic diagram preliminary
(x-axis = months of the year with 1 = July,  y-axis = bioclimatic unit.)
  Serie 1: potential bioclimatic intensity.
Serie 2: Dry bioclimatic intensity (value <0)
               Free bioclimatic intensity (value> 0)

Now, the chart can make the discussion relevant to this, I must first explain the meaning of each curve, to use a common language.

Potential bioclimatic intensity (PBI) represents the productive potential of the ecosystem examined, although water restrictions, estimated capacity growth of vegetation (biomass) in a year as productivity potential.

Dry bioclimatic intensity (DBI), measures the stoppage or arrest of the vegetative activity (plant growth) due to water deficit or drought.

Free bioclimatic intensity (FBI), represents the climatic productivity has recovered after the effect of water stress (it becomes what it really grows native forest with the weather).

There are other currents that are not appreciated for this climate and have to do with the cold bioclimatic intensity (CBI) where productivity is paralyzed by the cold winter (on overage under 7.5 ° C), this is logical, because if this condition is present for the forest under analysis (sclerophyllous and Acacia caven's scrub), presented no growth during the year, which means that this type of vegetation does not exist in the place. 

While the data shown are partial, clearly show that once you lose the vegetation is very unlikely that this will recover naturally, and if so, take a long time, probably decades or more, mainly the effect of prolonged seasonal drought, which for climatic terms is defined as 6 or 7 months, but for bioclimatic terms is 9 months (This includes factors of vegetation, and low effective rainfall to activate the plant growth). Now to understand the data, must be compared to values ​​that give us signals of what really happens, because the data do not speak for themselves. 

PBI should move values ​​between 4 and 7 as possible from the environment to generate real forests and are easily recoverable after activities that degrade the vegetation, in this case, the PBI reached higher values ​​near 2.8, which is very low to expect true forest vegetation formations (which is a reality for the area). 

For PBI values ​​between 2.2 and 4 increases the resistance of the environment to the recovery of degraded forest, this is greater when the UBP values ​​tend to zero (it´s became smaller). This situation occurs in the area for the period between mid-October and March, which may shed light on actions to pursue recovery of the forest, however, this period is highly influenced by the effect of DBI (drying effect), which represents a large investment in water for an area where water is already a problem, is therefore difficult to improve the condition to restore degraded forests, unless you can access water for environmental purposes of the relevant river flow. However, although able to perform an action of this style, can not be expected to establish high-quality species for biomass production, and that little action would be sustainable in the medium and long term.

With PBI values ​​less than 1.5 is unlikely to be able to generate real forests or similar formations, therefore have major limitations and any effect disruptor generate irreversible desertification, this situation is appreciated for the area between the period between late April and mid August, period which is also the time favorable for plant growth, which is an indicator that further confirms the possibility of restoration of native forests will result in poor forests, poor quality of biomass production and highly dependent on dry period to which they are exposed for the next 7 months. 

Now that you can understand that any action that is exerted on the native forest and degraded, (this is very rich in native and endemic species, both plants and animals (mainly poultry and insects)), can have very negative effects on the recoverability of these in medium and long term, this otherwise entail a substantial degradation of soil resources, may also have been affected by the same activities that led to the loss of vegetation, such as mining and agricultural activities. This shows that either an activity that produces current satisfaction can lead to desertification of the area and affect the possibilities for future development, has now seen the encroachment of the desert to the area, with the particular case of Putaendo, but the problem is not just local, but regional and may in the not too distant to affect southern regions (up to Ohiggins's region). 

If this also relates to global problems of abrupt climate change,decline and altered precipitation patterns, soil salinization and others, the picture becomes even more negative, yet unpredictable. Therefore, it is I think, should carry out programs for the protection of plant formations with special features, such as the sclerophyllous forest and the great diversity of species that have both plant and animals (mainly poultry and insects). In addition we should generate consistent protection plans at the regional rather than local level to try to stop desertification processes or at least control them. 

So the task for everyone to read this reflection is that hopefully think well on the use made of resources, the level of pollution and waste that we can generate daily, the least we can do is raise awareness that it is everyone's problem and that it must begin at home, plant a tree is not enough, but help. Local initiatives can make restoration and planting with native species, there are several funds .... just missing the action.

These diagrams show the integrated climate-plant with an ecophysiological correction factor, I think that gave me the area is a desert in power, triggering all such transformation is progressive and substantial loss of existing vegetation. If you do not stop this now, tomorrow will be too late.

Thanks for reading!!.